Officer who pulled sickie to go on holiday to Turkey guilty of gross misconduct and barred from policing

24 September 2024, 14:13 | Updated: 24 September 2024, 14:21

A police officer flew to Turkey for a holiday on the same day he reported sick for duty, a misconduct panel has heard.

Ex-PC Raja Khan from Leicestershire Police reported sick on 5 October while on a rest day, two days before his next shift.

However, evidence found the same evening he flew to Istanbul for a holiday.

On 8 October he was contacted by his line manager and replied by text, saying he was too ill to work.

PC Khan was given the out of hours number to call the sickness line and sent guidance to complete a sickness form.

He then got a third party to access his police laptop back at home, submit the sickness form on his behalf and send an email from his work address to the line manager confirming this had all been done.

However, police were waiting when PC Khan’s plane landed back at Stansted on 11 October and he confirmed he had just been on holiday for a week.

He was later arrested and interviewed under criminal caution, but will not face criminal charges.

PC Khan resigned from the force in February this year.

Following an investigation, directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), ex-PC Khan was proven to have committed gross misconduct.

A disciplinary hearing - held on 18 September - concluded that he had breached the standards of police professional behaviour for honesty and integrity, confidentiality, orders and instructions, and discreditable conduct.

The hearing also ruled he would have been dismissed if still serving with the force.

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'No place in policing'

IOPC Director of Operations Steve Noonan said: “PC Khan’s behaviour fell well below the standards expected of a police officer.

"He was dishonest about his absence from work and compounded that by allowing an unauthorised person to access his police laptop. In doing so he failed to treat confidential information with respect.

"Such conduct has no place in policing and he will now be placed on the barred list preventing him from future employment with the service.” 

On 16 October 2023 PC Khan was arrested and interviewed under criminal caution.

Following completion of the investigation report a decision was made not to make a referral to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider criminal charges against the officer.